Also, pay very careful attention to the shipper's policy regarding reimbursement for damages. UPS will not pay unless they packed it themselves.

Another thing I've always done when shipping VERY expensive guitars is to pay extra for expedited delivery. I've always felt that the less time it's bouncing around out there, the less of a chance that something bad will happen. I also never ship on weekends during hot or cold weather. Don't need one of my babies freezing or cooking in a warehouse until Monday. This all can cost quite a bit extra, but depending on how valuable the instrument is, I've found it to be well worth it. Shelling out over $5000 on a custom guitar and then letting it be delivered by standard ground never made sense to me.

Definitely insure it for the full replacement value. I got a free Alverez WY1 because it cracked in shipping. They paid for it to get repaired. I told them i wasnt happy with the repair. The repair was great but i was still pissed because it wasnt flawless. So they cut me a check for what I paid for the guitar and I was able to keep the guitar. I still play the guitar today.

Insurance is cheap. I too pay for overnight shipping. I don't want the guitar hanging out, and never have it shipped over the weekend.

I recommend to all my customers get to over nite shipping. Full replacement insurance is not negotiable. Sometimes it is too costly for some customers. Ups 2 day with full replacement insurance on a Wolf runs about $100 -160 any where in the country from down here in Texas. I am real liberal w/ the memory foam and luckily have not had to claim yet.

I'm not a fan of UPS. Surly, overworked drivers that like to walk into your home w/o knocking, missed pickups, general disrespect for any package...I regret that there is no Fedex pickup in my area, and until that changes, I'm stuck doing business with UPS.

It seems like the general consensus on eBay is if you ship UPS and the shipment is damaged, you were asking for it.

This is a pickup situation, so the drivers are familiar with the place, they're pretty frequent visitors. The door is a walk in door of an attached garage. The packages for pickup get set right outside the door, but occasionally the drivers come looking for a phantom pickup. I'm not sure why, but sometimes they just show up and most of them knock. The one in question did not. He just walked in.An "Employees Only" sign has since gone up, and now the door stays locked, but I never have seen the offending driver again.

Mr.Burns wrote:This is a pickup situation, so the drivers are familiar with the place, they're pretty frequent visitors. The door is a walk in door of an attached garage. The packages for pickup get set right outside the door, but occasionally the drivers come looking for a phantom pickup. I'm not sure why, but sometimes they just show up and most of them knock. The one in question did not. He just walked in.An "Employees Only" sign has since gone up, and now the door stays locked, but I never have seen the offending driver again.

I heard a story second-hand about a driver stealing a package, opening it, and pawning the contents. He was caught because of the intended receiver's diligent search of local pawn shops. Not sure what exactly it was that he stole, tho.

FedEx is no saint, either. This had a $7000 acoustic in it; the box was dented, crushed, sopping wet and disintegrated till part of it was like a paper shopping bag, no paperwork or address label on it, if it hadn't been shipped with a second guitar it never would have arrived:

Fortunately, it was in a Hiscox case and the guitar was unscathed.

This one was not so lucky ... a $6000 acoustic, in a top-of-the-line Ameritage heavy duty case, in a double walled box absolutely stuffed with wadded up newspaper all around:

UPS is rumored to break more stuff, but easier on the claims. FedEx was an absolute bear to deal with, they finally paid but it was a big hassle. The first thing they will tell you is it's not their fault it got damaged because it wasn't packed correctly. They deny the claim and then you have to fight it out. They will deny it if the box has been shipped more than once, too.

My advice to you would be to pay to have either a FedEx/Kinkos or UPS Store pack the guitar and insure it fully. Then, if it gets broken, they can't lay it off on your substandard packing job because THEY packed it. And no matter how well it's packed, trust me, they can find a way to break it.

I have outside insurance for the guitars I ship, they pay right away, but with a $500 deductible.